


This Way to Safety

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 04:44:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18423060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: A tumblr prompt: M&S are reunited at the end of a horrific case where they have been working on separate teams and have had virtually no contact





	This Way to Safety

First, they asked for Scully, due to the “unusual nature” of the bodies.  Mulder had watched her pack her laptop after returning from Skinner’s office, a thousand questions swirling through his brain, but things were rather precarious right now and he was trying to tread lightly.  (She might not agree with that, but he was.) They’d only barely gotten the x-files back, but their partnership was on thin ice, faring only slightly better than their personal relationship, which was in tatters.  Though he was burning with curiosity, he was conscious of her reticence to share.

 

“Take care of yourself,” is all he said, but even that almost sounded like an insult.  The Fellig case was still fresh.

 

She’d nodded, tight-lipped.  And then she was gone. Off to Sin City without him.  Though, only two days later, he was summoned as well. That’s when he knew they must be desperate.

 

Somehow, the Vegas PD had been able to keep the news of a serial killer under wraps.  Maybe because initially, no one put two and two together until an ambitious young assistant ME finally noticed the tattoos.  And then it had quickly become obvious that what seemed to be random, run-of-the-mill murder, was actually the work of a very active and aggressive serial killer.  That’s when they brought in Scully. But, aside from the post-mortem tattoos on the  _ inside _ of the victim’s eyelids, there were no leads.  That’s when they brought in Mulder.

 

So, Scully sliced and diced all day and Mulder sat in a windowless closet of a room at the Vegas field office with paper-thin files on the victims and the crime scenes and tried to get into the head of a monster.  And never the twain shall meet. He’d had brief conversations with Scully over the phone to clarify aspects of autopsy results, but she was always distracted and rushed. And he was in the zone, as it were.

 

It took just over two weeks for Mulder to construct his profile.  Mentally exhausted, he handed over the why and the what, but it didn’t give him the who and that was what frustrated him the most.  They thanked him and sent him home. Home, though, to do what? He was both wired and fried. He couldn’t get on a plane and he couldn’t be alone.

 

Suitcase in hand, he checked out of the motel room he barely saw and called a taxi.  He knew the name of Scully’s motel and that was enough for the cab driver. Twenty bucks got him her room number from manager on duty.  If he had another twenty, he was pretty sure he could’ve gotten a key as well, but it was all he had on him. The lock was easy enough to pick.

 

Much like his room, Scully’s looked unlived in.  The bed was made, her belongings were neatly stowed in the closet, toiletries in tidy rows on the vanity.  Always bringing chaos to her order, Mulder dropped his bag on the floor, tossed his jacket in the direction of the chair by the window, and kicked his shoes towards the foot of the bed.  He flopped down gracelessly, face-first onto the pillows. He could smell her perfume. It quieted his mind, like he knew it would.

 

Disorienting brightness is what woke him.  Startled, he rolled away and threw an arm over his eyes.  When the door was slammed shut, he rolled back and lifted his arm enough to squint in the general direction of the door.

 

“Why do I always seem to find you in my room, in the dark?” Scully asked.

 

“I like the element of surprise,” he muttered.  “Can you please turn that off?”

 

“No.”

 

“But, I asked nicely.”

 

He heard her sigh and then it went dark again and he moved his arm back over his head.  A few seconds later, he heard her utter a soft curse under her breath as she tripped on his shoes.

 

“Sorry,” he said.

 

She didn’t answer.  She just moved into the bathroom and shut herself inside.  It wasn’t long before she came out again and he caught a glimpse of her before she pulled the door nearly shut, leaving just enough light to maybe not trip over his shoes again.

 

“So what are you doing here?” she asked from inside the closet.

 

“Rough day.  Rough week. Rough couple of weeks.”

 

“Tell me about it.  Don’t you have your own motel to go to?”

 

“Not anymore.”

 

“Did you finally piss off the wrong person on the task force?”

 

“I played very nice, Scully, you’d have been proud of me.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“I was a very good boy.  Laid low, kept my head down and did their profile like they wanted.  Turned it in this afternoon as a matter of fact and got sent on my merry way with a pat on the head and everything.”

 

“Oh.”  She pushed the closet door closed with her foot and stood by the bed with her neatly folded pajamas.  “I’m tired, Mulder. I’d like to get to bed.”

 

“I won’t stop you.”

 

“Mulder.”

 

He knew she was on the verge of kicking him out, and he knew he couldn’t handle that.  Not even getting another room right now was going to suffice. Maybe if he was already back home in DC, he could manage, but right now, alone in Las Vegas, he couldn’t do it.

 

“Please don’t send me away,” he said, and he sounded pitiful even to himself.

 

“Mulder?”

 

“It’s been…it’s just been so...”

 

When he couldn’t finish, she did it for him.  “...I know.” 

 

The whole room seemed to pause as Mulder waited for what might happen next.  Only a few moments later, Scully returned to the bathroom, but for mere seconds.  She turned out the light and he heard her shuffle across the floor. The bed dipped lightly as she sat down on the empty side and then her shoes thumped softly as they dropped to the carpet.  They both lay staring up into the dark towards the ceiling.

 

“How many autopsies have you done in the last few weeks?” he asked, when the silence became uncomfortable.

 

“I don’t know.  A couple dozen.”

 

“And the tattoos, are you sure there’s not-”

 

“You have my reports,” she interrupted brusquely.  “I’m sure you know better than I do just what-”

 

“I do,” he broke in apologetically.  “I do. It’s just making me crazy.”

 

“Well, you’re not the only one.”

 

“You’re right.”

 

“What are you doing here, Mulder?”

 

He sighed and turned onto his side to face her.  She wasn’t much more than a grey silhouette beside him, but he could make out the slope of her nose and the glimmer of her open eyes.  He knew it would be too much to ask of her to put her arms around him, which is what he really wanted. He needed her to be the grounding force to the electrical storm inside, but he certainly couldn’t ask that.

 

“I missed you,” he said.

 

“I’m sorry this isn’t an x-file.”

 

“Sure, but...what I mean is that I missed  _ you _ .”

 

She didn’t answer and he rolled into his back again with another sigh.  The shadows filling the void flickered on the ceiling. He could swear he could hear his watch ticking.

 

“Not just these past few weeks,” he said.  “These past few months. I’m sorry that-”

 

“Not now, Mulder.  It’s late.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Time ticked by again.  Despite being in the city known for bright lights and casinos that never sleep, it was surprisingly quiet in this little motel off the strip.  

 

“I missed you too,” Scully said, breaking the silence.

 

“Yeah?”

 

She didn’t repeat or confirm it for him, but that was okay.  There was a little bit of peace he found in knowing she could want him around.

 

“You know that when the seas are rough, you’re my port in the storm, don’t you?” he asked.  “The lighthouse I look for so I don’t go too far off course.”

 

It was her turn to roll towards him, first by turning her head, and then inch by inch, shifting until she was on her side.  It took restraint he didn’t even know he had not to look towards her.

 

“You still manage to get yourself lost quite a bit,” she said.

 

“And you still manage to bring me back.”  He did look at her then, but she was only shadows.  He could feel her though, mere inches away. It was the closest they’d been in ages.

 

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and leaned a little closer to him as she exhaled.  “It has been a really...it’s been so…”

 

“...I know.”

 

“I just want to go home.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“But, this is…having you here now is…”

 

“Good enough?”

 

“The next best thing.”

 

He rolled to his side and they were so close that the tip of his nose touched hers.  He tucked his head down a little so their foreheads were almost pressed together. She brought her hands up under her cheek and they shared her fingers like a pillow.  A little hesitantly, he brought his arm over her and rested his hand at the middle of her back.

 

“Is this okay?” he asked.

 

“Yes,” she whispered. 

 

“So you’re not kicking me out?”

 

“Not tonight.”

 

Not ever, he hoped.

 

The End

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
